In medical imaging, PACS are a combination of computers and/or networks dedicated to the storage, retrieval, presentation and distribution of images. While images may be stored in a variety of formats, the most common format for image storage is Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). DICOM is a standard in which radiographic images and associated meta-data are communicated to the PACS system from imaging modalities for interaction by end-user medical personnel.
PACS display textual and graphical medical information that are associated with image attributes. Some of this information is received from DICOM and others are generated within the PACS as annotations that are associated with the images or measurements linked to anatomical regions of interest or markers that are produced by third party systems, such as Computer Aided Detection (CAD) applications. The DICOM standard recently introduced support for Structured Reports (SR) that can include CAD findings and GSPS (Grayscale Soft Copy Presentation State) non-image objects that are necessary to reproduce the same visualization of an image if displayed at two disparate PACS systems. Not all annotations are covered under the GSPS umbrella and often these attributes are displayed as static image overlays that can be turned on or off, based on the viewer's preference.
For example, certain attributes that are related to image processing are displayed as numerical value annotations that are associated with the rendering of a particular image. Such rendering may include image rotations, contrast adjustments such as window-level operation, particular proprietary image enhancements, zooming level, image compression level, etc. Traditionally, an end-user is able to manipulate the attributes of an image utilizing keyboard short cuts, combinations of mouse and keyboard buttons and mouse movement, or by simply launching tool menus to image tiles, context menus (often launched using right mouse click) or tool bars. The usability of accessing functions through these interfaces and techniques is rather low and presents a number of problems to the end-user.
Access to tools, whether associated with visualization, diagnostic workflow or clinical context driven measurements, is rather poor in existing PACS products. In the case of the Context Menu, which is conventionally launched by right clicking the mouse, navigating down the command hierarchy, access to particular command is often difficult and interferes with the user's ability to perform functions in a quick and efficient manner. What is needed is an intuitive and quick access to the context menu commands and other commands and features of the PACS, without further cluttering the screen real estate. The ability to access tools using active overlays within the image area, as opposed to the existing menu and toolbar driven approaches, reduces the number of commands that need to be exercised from menus. This in turn makes the menus more tractable. The aforementioned deficiencies identified are clearly not restricted to context menu, toolbars and toolboxes alone. There is also the broader issue of how to better utilize existing mediums or products to facilitate efficiency, ease of use and accuracy.
There is a need for an efficient, scalable, user friendly and robust technique to enable direct manipulation of image visualization parameters, provide access to other image related records, and enable modification and addition to measurement parameters while also providing access to toolbars and toolboxes.
The present invention fills these needs as well as other needs.